Full of spoilers, of course!
)Submachine is what it is- theory/ interpretation
What is Submachine?
Submachine is a series of point and click games that deal with some of the big, philosophical questions. (Probably) Everyone who gets immersed into those games automatically thinks about stuff like, “Who made the submachine (≙ our universe/ world)”, “Why are we in the Submachine (≙ universe/ world)”etc.
The 4th wall in the submachine games
“4th wall” is a term that originates from the science of theatre: It’s the invisible wall between the audience and the actors. The 4th wall breaks when the actors refer to the audience or to the fact that they’re acting a play.
Video games usually break the 4th wall by, well, gameplay. Without the player, a video game could not really exist. The situation is different with a movie, which is able to run on its own. It doesn’t really need you.
This is the explanation for the whole “Isn’t that just an image on a computer screen?” stuff in Sub2. You watch the movie memory and are able to grab a card out of it- that’s not just an image on your screen, because you are able to interact with it. The Oxford dictionary defines “image” as a representation of the external form of a thing (or person). By interacting with an “image”, you would destroy this form, because you make it look another way than it did before you interacted. An image has an unbreakable 4th wall (apart from the ability to interact with the spectator’s inner life, of course). Like the movie at the end of Sub2 does, too: You have absolutely no influence on it. The end movie is, in fact, an image/ a series of images on your screen.
Later in the series, at the end of Sub9, to be exact, this rather easy definition of video game interaction gets doubted again. You have to learn that it wasn’t really you who shut off the defense systems- it happened by itself, due to another, unknown character in the game or maybe a “past you” that was there before even started to play the submachine series or whatnot. The whole thing went on at its own, like a movie plot… and if you think about it, it’s like this in almost every video game. (Except of plot-less games and “Stanley Parable”. This game –which the creator of the series mentions on his Facebook- is about making little environment modifications that change the whole game plot. Your interaction actually matters here.)
The boundaries between player interactivity, player identification and non- interaction disappear in the submachine (games).
The puzzles
The existence/ non- existence of the 4th wall in the submachine (games) leads directly to the purpose of the puzzles. I don’t think they are there to test humans or to make us think extravagantly and suchlike. In the Submachine (games), Puzzles are our friends and our lifeline. In a world of (human-term) disorienting, sometimes physics-defying structures, totally illogical timelines and even the uncertainty if it’s really you who is in control of the games’ storyline, Puzzles are the only thing in the Submachine where you are actually, certainly, needed and involved. Puzzles don’t get solved by themselves. Regardless of whether someone did this before us, or whether it triggers a plot advance, if we want to solve them and continue our voyage through Submachine (games), our human logic is totally sufficient.
Religion and deities
…can be another lifeline in the submachine (world), like they can be one in real life to some people, too (I try to avoid any religious statements here). There are a lot of ancient, religious symbols and hints throughout the series, but there’s never a definition of one “right” religion. There’s not even a statement if there actually is a god in the submachine/ our real world- the Buddhist and Hindu tone of Sub9 just bases on statements of, probably ancient, believers.
In our heads, stuff like the control of your inner, invisible energy and the being of our consciousness (≙ Karma?) is often linked to Religion, especially Buddhism. Even if they are mentioned in art. In Submachine- and in our real life, too- it doesn’t really matter if we e.g. feel a deity when meditating (RL) or if we get near to Shiva when discovering a layer of light on our layer- transferring device (Submachine).
Roundup
My theory/ theories is/ are called “Submachine is what it is”, because I don’t believe the games really try to tell a story from a “possible” and “tangible” world, like most Science Fiction and Fantasy games, books and movies do, but I don’t think that they show us a simulation or dream, either (which is officially debunked, anyway). Submachine is a game series that creates a world that is as real as our lifelong, philosophical questions- which are existent because we ask them (this is probably a way to explain the “You’re the one who’s guiding that light” thing in Sub9), but only existent when spoken out or written down- all Video games are only existent when thought out and created, published and played.
We don’t dive in because of very realistic graphics but because of our belonging to solve Mysteries (and Puzzles). Humanity will go on searching for Mysteries and their solutions (if there are some) forever. (≙“You don’t want to escape from the Submachine”)
When someone dies, nature itself says or does nothing about it (apart from corroding the body, of course), which actually seems pretty horrible from the human point of view. In the Submachine world/ games, this horribleness is amplified: it isn’t even clear if someone just died, if you are actually able to die because of the nonlinear timeline (see the mummies in Sub9: they are obviously pretty old, but you wrote with Murtaugh just 5 games ago) or if everyone is dead already and we are surrounded by invisible corpses. The games leave open the question for something apart from the visible nature (like, Shiva). They just focus on the effects and relics (like, scarabs and Karma stuff) of phenomena and art often linked to religion (see above). Of course, we aren’t able to create blue karma lines or portals etc., this is rather a metaphor for insight and introversion (like, Murtaugh’s ability to focus on reality layers). Together with the puzzles (=logic) - sometimes, “religion” and Puzzles even get mixed together-, those abilities form the lifeline and playability in the confusing Submachine world and make us believe that we “guide the light”.
